68: Chapter 68 At least show some manners in front of your juniors.

He couldn't help but peek at Hu Tian out of the corner of his eye, only to see the other man's calm expression. There wasn't a hint of smugness on his face, as if what he had just done was merely a trivial matter, something entirely commonplace.

This composure was even more unsettling than the three points of suspicion he'd raised.

Sun Qiming held it in for a long while before finally lowering his voice and leaning into Qian Siyuan's ear. "Say, remember at the provincial appraisal meeting this year when Elder Su identified that fan face at a glance? He won everyone over. At the time, we all thought there were few in this world who could match Elder Su's eye."

He paused for a moment. "Now, take a look at this one."

Qian Siyuan didn't speak; he just swallowed hard and nodded slowly.

The two of them silently turned their gaze back to Hu Tian's back.

Director Zhang, standing a bit further away, saw everything. He thought to himself that this young man, Hu Tian, was likely no ordinary person.

Coming back to his senses, Director Zhang quickly stepped forward, forced a comforting smile, and clapped his hands. "Elder Su, although this painting is a fake, you had your doubts about it before. This shows your eye is still sharp; you just lacked conclusive evidence. This could happen to anyone—"

Su Huairen didn't even look up, simply replying flatly, "Lacked evidence? I looked at it twenty times and couldn't find it, yet Little Hu saw it just by taking two steps back. You call that 'the same'?"

Director Zhang's words choked in his throat, and for a moment, he couldn't find a response. His smile stiffened slightly.

Su Huairen lifted his eyelids to glance at him, his tone unhurried. "If you want to comfort me, don't use those kinds of words as a foundation. The more you build on them, the lower I feel."

Director Zhang let out a hollow laugh and spread his hands at his sides. He decided to say nothing more and took half a step back, withdrawing his comforting stance entirely.

The room fell silent again, save for the faint sound of Su Huairen flipping through the painting.

Director Zhang stood there, the smile on his face not yet fully dissipated, but its meaning had changed. It held a bit of embarrassment and a bit of helplessness, which finally blended together into two words: 'Forget it.'

After all, he didn't dare provoke these old men whose students were spread across the nation.

Fang Jiye had been listening nearby for a while. Now, he sauntered over slowly, patted Su Huairen twice on the shoulder, and sighed. "Huairen, don't take it to heart. In a person's life, there's always a time when you meet someone better than yourself. It's not embarrassing. It shows your eye is still there; you just had a bit of bad luck today—"

Su Huairen took a deep breath and was about to reply, but as soon as Fang Jiye finished speaking, he didn't give him a chance to respond. With a turn of his hand, he had already grabbed Hu Tian's arm. Turning to Hu Tian, he said, "Little Hu, come, come with me. There's an incense burner on the long table over here that I've had doubts about for a long time. Since you're here, help me take a look."

With that, without waiting for Hu Tian to answer, he pulled him toward the long table. His steps were quite brisk; there wasn't a hint of the frailty expected of a man in his seventies.

Su Huairen stood rooted to the spot, his retort stuck in his throat. It wouldn't go up or down, making his expression shift several times in frustration.

He opened his mouth, wanting to call out to Fang Jiye or say something, but Fang Jiye had already pulled Hu Tian to the incense burner and was talking excitedly in a low voice, with no intention of looking back.

Su Huairen was so angry his chest felt tight. He held his breath, his lips twitching, but he couldn't force out a single word.

Qian Siyuan and Sun Qiming stood nearby, exchanged a glance, and both quietly turned their heads away. Neither dared to make a sound at a time like this.

Director Zhang also pulled his neck in and shifted his gaze elsewhere, pretending to examine the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall.

Su Huairen stood with a dark face for a moment, then suddenly raised a hand and pointed at Fang Jiye, raising his voice. "Fang Jiye! You old geezer, running off halfway through a sentence! Is this how you comfort people?"

Fang Jiye didn't even turn his head; he just raised a hand and waved it in the air. The meaning was clear: 'Stop talking nonsense, I don't have time for you.'

Su Huairen was nearly knocked over by anger. He took a step forward, but Jiang Peiyuan was quick to intercept him with an arm, saying with a chuckle, "Huairen, Huairen, calm down. You know Jiye's temper. This is his way of caring for you, just that his method is a bit off—"

Su Huairen turned his head and glared at him. "You get out of my way too."

Jiang Peiyuan wasn't annoyed. His hand remained in place as he continued to advise, "Oh, come on, we're almost eighty. In front of the juniors, at least maintain some decorum."

Su Huairen said angrily, "I want the juniors to see exactly what kind of character this old geezer Fang Jiye has!"

Fang Jiye had clearly heard him. With his hands behind his back, his shoulders were shaking slightly; he was clearly laughing.

This made Su Huairen even more riled up. He raised his hand to swat at Fang Jiye's back from a distance, but Jiang Peiyuan caught his hand. The two of them began pushing and shoving, back and forth, each saying their own thing in a chaotic mess.

Director Zhang stood by, dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, never expecting that these highly respected old gentlemen in the world of archaeology and collecting would be like this in private.

Sun Qiming leaned toward Qian Siyuan and whispered in his ear, "Is... is this how Elder Su and the others usually interact?"

Qian Siyuan sighed helplessly and nodded slightly, like a seasoned veteran. "I've seen it a few times before. You'll get used to it. Just remember! When you run into a situation like this in the future, you must never, ever join the conversation."

Meanwhile.

Fang Jiye stood sideways with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the incense burner. He said in a low voice, "Little Hu, take a look at this. I noticed it here a few days ago. I've always felt something was off about it, but I couldn't say exactly what. You take a look for me too."

Hu Tian followed his gaze.

The incense burner on the long table wasn't large. It was dark brown all over, with a round, full body, three splayed legs, and a slightly flared rim. At first glance, it was unremarkable, appearing somewhat plain and inconspicuous among the table full of artifacts.

Hu Tian didn't touch it at first. He just stood before the table, shifting his position to examine it closely from different angles.

The body had a thick, old patina and a steady color. There were a few subtle signs of bumping at the edges, giving it a strong sense of age.

The bottoms of the three legs where they touched the table also showed fine wear from natural friction.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and casually picked up the incense burner.

The weight in his hand was heavy, significantly more so than he had expected.

He turned the bottom of the burner to check the mark, then brought the body closer, slowly rotating it under the light to examine the flow of the lines left during casting.

At that moment, a piece of information quietly lit up in his mind, and system prompts flashed one after another.

[Item Name: xuande incense burner, Cast Copper Cloisonné Filled-Color Tripod Incense Burner]

[Year: Xuande Period of the ming dynasty, approximately 1426 to 1435 AD]

[Production Technique: Cast using the lost-wax method. The walls have been annealed and polished multiple times, resulting in a uniform thickness. The mark on the bottom is a four-character regular script 'Xuande Nian Zhi' (Made in the Years of Xuande). The characters are clear and well-cast, indicating it is not a later reproduction.]

[Production Location: Imperial Directorate of Manufactures of the ming dynasty] [Circulation History: Originally an imperial display piece in the Ming court. It entered the private sector in the late Qing Dynasty and passed through several collectors. During the Republican Era, it briefly surfaced in the Jiangnan region. After the founding of the People's Republic, it went through many hands before remaining in a private collection until now.]

[System Estimated Price: Current market reference valuation is between 72 million and 98 million RMB. If certified by an authoritative institution, the value could increase by more than 30%.]

Holding the incense burner, Hu Tian carefully felt the inner rim again. His fingertips sensed the fine and even texture of the inner cast wall, and he now had a clear idea.

He placed the incense burner steadily back on the table, looked up, and said calmly to Elder Fang, "Elder Fang, your feeling was correct. This item is indeed extraordinary. But it is also a bit unusual."

Fang Jiye's eyes flickered. "Oh? Tell me."

Hu Tian pointed to the bottom of the burner. "Look at this mark. The four characters in regular script are deep and sharp, the casting is clean, and the strokes don't have the slightest hint of sloppiness. This isn't the style of a later imitation. Later imitations of xuande incense burners either have shallow marks or weak strokes; they rarely have this kind of strength."

He paused and added, "Furthermore, the weight of this burner is different from common cast copper imitations. The copper used for Ming Xuande burners is 'wind-blown copper,' which was smelted with a specific ratio of gold, silver, tin, and lead. Its density is higher than ordinary cast copper, so for the same volume, it's significantly heavier. This burner's weight matches up."

Elder Fang nodded slightly, his gaze deepening. "What about the patina?"

Hu Tian said, "The patina is truly old. Five or six hundred years of accumulation can't be faked. Look at the color of the body; it's the kind that glows from the inside out, not a superficial sheen applied to the surface. Especially at the transitions of the three legs, the patina transitions naturally. On a faked antique, the color would break at these points, but not on this one."

Elder Fang was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up and stared intently at Hu Tian. "Your judgment: authentic?"

Hu Tian answered calmly, "Authentic. And it's a rare, perfectly preserved piece from the old imperial collection, an original Ming Xuande burner: a Cast Copper Cloisonné Filled-Color Tripod Incense Burner. With its condition being this good, its value is not low."

Elder Fang didn't speak immediately. Instead, he picked up the incense burner again, his brow furrowing slightly as if he were weighing something. After a moment, he finally spoke.

"Then let me tell you my doubt."

He placed the burner back on the table and slowly traced the body with his fingertip. He paused and looked at Hu Tian. "My problem is here. Xuande burners are all about the wind-blown copper, right? wind-blown copper has gold in it. A real Xuande burner should have a special luster—what people commonly call 'sutra paper color,' 'eggplant skin color,' or 'chestnut shell color.' But no matter how I look at this burner, the color is too dark, too heavy. It's not lustrous enough. I once thought this was a later imitation with impure copper, which is why it looks so dull."

After hearing this, Hu Tian's lips twitched slightly. He understood that Elder Fang's doubt was actually a very typical misunderstanding. Many people's knowledge of Xuande burners was limited to the standard colors described in popular concepts, leading them to overlook a much rarer variety.

He spoke unhurriedly, "Elder Fang, your doubt hits on a key point. However, I must say your judgment is slightly off-course."

Elder Fang's eyes narrowed slightly, gesturing for him to continue.